


Hello, My Old Friend

by HouseofSannae



Series: Kingdom Hearts Ψ [7]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Not all characters are tagged due to spoilers, does this qualify as songfic?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 16:06:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14697636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HouseofSannae/pseuds/HouseofSannae
Summary: I've come to talk with you again.While Kairi and Lea train with Merlin, Riku and Mickey delve into the Realm of Darkness to find missing Keyblade Master Aqua.But first, a detour...





	Hello, My Old Friend

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Cast a Shadow](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2801513) by [Taliax](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taliax/pseuds/Taliax). 



> _Loosely_ inspired. I'll explain in the end notes.

            The first step was figuring out a way into the Realm of Darkness.

            When Mickey had first entered the Dark World looking for his Kingdom Key D, he had hitched a ride on a world that had lost its heart. Fortunately for the worlds, though unfortunately for Mickey and Riku, this was no longer an option.

            Thus, they were looking for places where a natural rift between the worlds of Light and Darkness might exist. Any place where people had once passed through the two realms, where the gateways might still be open.

            Riku knew of exactly one such place.

            He didn’t really want to go back.

            But it was for a good cause.

            “Castle Oblivion?” Mickey had asked in confusion when he brought it up.

            Riku had nodded. “DiZ, or, uh, Ansem the Wise, pulled me out of the Realm of Darkness and into Castle Oblivion’s basement. The portal he used might still be there.”

            “I suppose the Heartless in the Castle had to come from somewhere,” Mickey had mused. “It’s worth a shot.” He had set their gummi ship on a course towards Castle Oblivion, and they would arrive soon.

            The closer they got, the more on edge Riku became. He wondered if Mickey could tell, because every couple of minutes the mouse king would try to get him talking. And to be honest, it was helping. He couldn’t exactly brood while talking about how he, Sora, and Kairi had finally admitted their feelings for one another.

            “…and we just kinda… I dunno… realized there was no reason why any of us should have been left out,” he concluded, reddening a bit. Sometimes he missed having long hair.

            Mickey gave him a warm smile. “I’m glad you have them, Riku. This is probably the happiest I’ve ever seen ya. Happy is a good look on you.”

            Riku scoffed, but smiled at his words. “They’re amazing, all right. Honestly, sometimes I don’t feel like I really deserve–” Mickey held up a hand, cutting him off.

            “Now stop right there. Riku, whether you ‘deserve’ to be with them doesn’t enter into it. They want you there, with them. That’s what’s most important. They _chose_ you.”

            Riku sat in silence for a couple seconds, before sitting back with a smile. “Thanks, Mickey.”

            The King laughed. “Hey, tell ya the truth, it’s been almost ninety years Minnie and I’ve been together, and sometimes I still wonder why she picked me. It’s okay to have doubts, just as long as ya let them go when you know they’re wrong.”

            “Sora and Kairi definitely are helping me with that,” Riku said, until the full statement hit him. “Wait…you’ve been together for almost a _century?_ ”

            Before Mickey could answer, the gummi ship’s radio crackled to life. Mickey listened to the message with a concerned look, then turned back to Riku.

            “There’s been a bit of a change of plans,” he said. “The Radiant Garden Restoration Committee have found something they think we should look at.”

            “Do we have time for a detour?” Riku wondered. Every second they delayed meant a worse chance of finding Aqua in one piece.

            Mickey nodded. “If they’ve found what I think they’ve found, it might actually help us find Aqua.”

            “Then let’s go,” Riku said, settling back into his chair. Mickey altered their course, and the gummi ship soared towards Radiant Garden.

 

            It was only halfway through the trip that Riku remembered Radiant Garden used to be Hollow Bastion. He was glad to see the Restoration Committee’s work had vastly changed the landscape, a rough city now ringing the base of a castle that no longer bore the Heartless emblem.

            Mickey noticed his hesitation as they disembarked. “Hey. You’re not who ya were last time you were here. Trust me.”

            Riku took a deep breath and steadied himself. “I know. It’s just… a lot.”

            Mickey gave him a supportive smile, and they walked over to the people waiting at the edge of the landing pad. Cid was there, seeing as it was his hangar they were borrowing, as was Leon, but it was the third person that almost stopped Riku short. A tall, broad man in a faded blue uniform, with orange hair pulled back from his forehead.

            Lexaeus.

            “Aeleus,” Mickey greeted him. “Good to see ya back on your feet.”

            “Your Majesty,” he said. “It’s good to be back. Before we discuss the reason for our calling you, I must apologize, for all that I have done.”

            Mickey waved his hand dismissively. “You weren’t yourself. And you wouldn’t be the first person Xehanort fooled.”

            “Still, I hope that I and the other apprentices can make amends.” Aeleus paused, spotting Riku, and tensed.

            “…if anything, I should apologize, too,” Riku said quietly. He had killed the other man, after all.

            “…No need to apologize for an act of self-defense,” Aeleus said, equally as quiet.

            Cid leaned over to Mickey. “Am I missin’ something here?”

            “Suffice it to say that Riku is the primary reason why I am no longer Lexaeus,” Aeleus explained.

            “Oh.”

            The Keybearer and the former Nobody stood in uncomfortable silence for a moment, before Leon cleared his throat.

            “Ansem’s apprentices have been helping us restore the castle, and in one of the lower chambers they found something we think you should see. If you’ll follow me?” He led the way over to the ruins of the castle, into one of the smaller rooms.

            “After Xemnas took over, he had Ienzo – Zexion, rather – build a chamber below our old laboratory,” Aeleus explained. “Occasionally he would visit it, but no one else had any idea what he kept in it. Until we managed to get it open earlier today.”

            Lying spread out on a table in the room was a suit of armour, metallic blue, purple, and black, with highlights in a pale ivory. Next to it rested a blue Keyblade.

            Mickey gasped, and ran over to examine it. Riku turned to Leon and Aeleus, and asked, “Where did it come from?”

            “When we found the man we knew as Xehanort, he was lying in what used to be called the Outer Gardens. This armour and Keyblade were next to him. We didn’t know who they belonged to, and he had amnesia and couldn’t tell us. Or so he claimed,” Aeleus explained.

            “They’re Aqua’s,” Mickey called. He was holding the Keyblade up, and studying it with one hand clenched over his chest.

            “Who’s Aqua?” Leon asked, and Riku explained as much as he could.

            “You should take the armour and Keyblade with you, then,” he said when Riku finished. “We’ll give you a hand carrying it–”

            “No need,” Mickey said, cutting him off. “If I just…” He poked a certain point on the armour’s left shoulder, and it flared a bright white. When Riku, Aeleus, and Leon had managed to get their vision back, the armour had compacted into a single shoulder pauldron.

            “Well that’s useful,” Leon remarked. “And it forms back around the wearer?”

            Mickey nodded. “They used to be standard equipment for Keybearers, but since there are safer ways of travelling between worlds now, we don’t really use them anymore. They protect against the corruption of Darkness.”

            “Like our black cloaks?” Aeleus asked.

            Mickey nodded again. “Designed with the same principle in mind, but we’re not sure how much protection the coats Xehanort gave you actually provided.” In broad strokes, he laid out what the actual purpose of Organization XIII had been for Aeleus and Leon.

            Aeleus supressed a small shudder. “If that was the case, all the better that I am myself again. Is that why Braig and Isa did not recomplete alongside us?”

            Riku nodded. “They’re still Xigbar and Saïx. We’ve seen them recently.”

            Aeleus was silent for a second. Eventually, he asked, “…does Lea…?”

            “He was there with us when we saw Saïx,” Riku said. “He knows.”

            Aeleus nodded. “If there’s anything any of us can do to help you fight,” he said, “please allow us to. We cannot expect forgiveness for what we have done, but–”

            “Actually, there is one thing,” Riku said. “Tell Vex– Even that Lea will be coming to see him as soon as he can.”

            “Why?”

            “He has some questions about the Replica project. And if Even still knows how to make an empty body. He’ll explain it better than I can. I just figure Even won’t be pleased if Lea shows up out of nowhere, given their history,” he added at Aeleus’s confused look.

            After extracting a promise from Aeleus to give Even a heads up, Riku and Mickey said their goodbyes to Cid and Leon, promising both of them to keep an eye on Sora. They returned to their gummi ship, Aqua’s armour and Keyblade in tow, and headed back towards Castle Oblivion.

 

 

            They lucked out upon their arrival at the Castle: it still remembered Riku, and allowed him to warp down to the thirteenth basement floor instead of fighting his way down to it. Beyond the door he had first entered Castle Oblivion through, a dark portal swirled.

            “…This seems too easy,” Riku muttered, half to himself.

            “Hm?” Mickey asked. “What do you mean, Riku?”

            “We step through the portal, and we’re in the Realm of Darkness. I don’t know… it feels like this should have been harder.”

            “Getting into the Realm of Darkness has always been easy,” Mickey said. “It’s getting out again that’s the hard part. Once we go through, I’m not sure this portal will stay open.”

            That was a sobering thought. “Then once we’ve found Aqua, how do we get out again?” Riku asked.

            “Huh. Yanno, I haven’t thought quite that far ahead.” Mickey gave him a charming grin. “But I know we’ll figure something out!”

            That actually explained a lot to Riku about how Mickey had gotten trapped in the Realm of Darkness the first time around. Ruefully, he shook his head and smiled. The mouse king’s charm and enthusiasm was infectious.

            They donned the black coats Ansem had given them so long ago, now modified by Yen Sid and the three fairies so their ability to repel Darkness was assured. They, along with new outfits that should also be able to ward off the Darkness had been in cases given to them by Yen Sid before they departed. Riku’s case had something else in it, as well. Something he didn’t feel ready to retrieve just yet.

            Cautiously, they stepped through the portal.

 

 

            They made it almost half a mile before stumbling into Heartless. The coats were indeed working; the Heartless hadn’t sought them out. But the Realm of Darkness was the Heartless’s home. It would be ludicrous to think they would find Aqua and get out without stumbling across the monsters.

            If anything, finding increasingly larger clusters of Heartless meant they were heading in the right direction. There was only one heart in the entire Realm that wasn’t hidden by a Darkness-repelling cloak, and that was Aqua’s. Her light was like a beacon for the Heartless, and as the swarms grew larger, it meant they were getting closer.

            Riku wished they didn’t have to use this method to find her. He had been hoping that he would be able to smell her light in the darkness with his enhanced senses. Unfortunately, his nose was overpowered by the sheer stench of the Darkness. Imagine trying to find a scented candle with your nose alone in the middle of a sewer. This was the task facing Riku, and he couldn’t make out anything aside from the looming Darkness.

            Following the Heartless was dangerous, though. No barrier is completely foolproof, and on several occasions the group they were following detected them and attacked. It was nothing Mickey and Riku couldn’t handle, but dispatching the group they were following meant they had to wander in the same direction they had been heading until they found another group of Heartless rushing in the same direction.

            Riku was beginning to lose track of time. How far had they gone, how long had they been in there? A fat lot of good it would do the worlds if they spent another ten years trying to rescue Aqua. It had only felt like minutes, but they had covered so much ground.

            Mickey saw the look on his face, and placed a comforting hand on his arm. “It hasn’t been as long as it was the last time I was here,” he said when Riku explained his concerns. “And when we got out of the Realm of Darkness the last time, it had only been three weeks since I entered. We won’t be trapped in here for years, I’m sure of it.” He smiled, and Riku smiled back, buoyed by the mouse king’ confidence.

            And that was when the Orcuses attacked.

            Both Keyblade Masters dodged the original strikes, but that left them separated, each fighting two of the sword-bearing Heartless. Riku had encountered the breed known as Invisibles before, but something about the orange detailing on the Orcuses made him believe these were more powerful. More dangerous.

            He parried their strikes and saw an opening. Gathering Flowmotion energy around himself, he grabbed one Orcus in the flow, and tossed it away. It slammed into the ground with enough force to dissipate its form. One down.

            Riku didn’t have time to celebrate as the other Orcus swung at him, its orange sword locking with his Keyblade. To Riku’s horror, the Orcus reached out with its hand and seized the tip of his Keyblade. Its hand smoked and leaked darkness where it touched the sword, but that didn’t stop the Orcus from pulling on the Keyblade as it pushed against Riku’s guard.

            Way to the Dawn snapped in two.

            The broken point vanished as the Orcus let go of it. The hilt end remained in Riku’s hand, but he couldn’t do anything with it. Shattered, he dropped to his knees, as the Orcus readied a strike at his neck.

            Instead of swinging its blade down in a crushing blow, the Orcus reeled back and vanished into smoke, impaled in the chest by an expertly thrown Kingdom Key D. Mickey, having dispatched his own pair of Orcuses, ran over to Riku, retrieving his borrowed Keyblade on the way.

            Riku stared at the shard of his Keyblade in his hands, numb. He didn’t think it was even possible to break a Keyblade. And yet, there it was, broken.

            “I… how am I going to face everybody?” he wondered aloud, miserable.

            “Gosh. Maybe like this?” Mickey said.

            Riku refused to meet his gaze. He knew exactly what Mickey was doing: pushing the palms of his hands into his cheeks and pinching together his lips. The exact same thing Sora had done when Riku had first asked that question a year ago, in The World That Never Was.

            Despite himself, despite the horribleness of the situation, Riku couldn’t help but laugh. Mickey smiled along with him, and sat down next to him, patting him on the back.

            “When you took up that Keyblade,” Mickey said, “you said that you were going to walk the road to dawn. Thing about roads, though, Riku, is they’re only so long. I think you’ve reached it.”

            “The dawn?” Riku asked.

            “Yep. So you don’t need that specific Keyblade anymore. You’re ready to move on.”

            Riku grimaced. “After all I’ve been through with it, it feels… I don’t know, like a betrayal to put it aside.”

            Mickey smiled. “Yeah, I understand that. But sometimes moving on is what’s best. Nothing says you have to forget where you’ve been.”

            Speaking of that, Riku suddenly realized why the specific part of the Realm of Darkness they were in looked so familiar. This was the Dark Meridian. The inexplicable beach he had wound up on alongside Sora when they had defeated Xemnas. Where Kairi’s letter had found them.

            Maybe Way to the Dawn’s story wasn’t over quite yet.

            Riku pulled himself to his feet and approached the shore, studying the half-blade in his hand.

            “You know, I wouldn’t normally be the first person to say things happen for a reason,” he said, half to himself, and drove the remains of his Keyblade into the sands of the beach.

            Mickey indicated his confusion, and Riku explained, “Can’t use this Keyblade anymore. So, I might as well leave it here. In case the other me needs it.”

            “Huh?” Mickey asked, but Riku waved the question away. “I’ll explain some other time.”

            He sat back down and took out the case Yen Sid had given him. There was one last thing inside it, after removing the new clothes and the improved coat. Had the old sorcerer known this would happen?

            Out of the case, Riku pulled another Keyblade. It was long, and silver, and unlike the Keyblades he had seen and used before, it didn’t have a “teeth” section. It wasn’t based on a skeleton key.

            It was based on a master key.

            Because it was a Master’s Key.

            Mickey had explained to him that this particular Keyblade had once belonged to Yen Sid himself, back when the sorcerer was a Keyblade Master. It had been passed down from master to apprentice as one of the ancient Keyblades from just after the Keyblade War. The honour of bearing it was now Riku’s.

            This was part of the reason why he had been reluctant to claim it.

            But it was now time to move on.

            It felt right in his hand.

 

 

            An indeterminate amount of time later, they happened upon a series of dunes. They hadn’t encountered a group of Heartless in quite some time, so they were doing their best to stay on the same course. The dunes were large enough that they formed a natural maze. They stretched out as far as either of them could see in the distance; there was no going around them, only going through.

            Riku shook his head as he stared out at the landscape. “At what point do we admit that we’re lost?”

            “Gosh, I never thought we weren’t,” Mickey said. “Ya gotta be lost to find what’s missing, I’ve always thought.”

            Riku shook his head, grinning. “How exactly have you managed to successfully run a kingdom for so long?”

            “Minnie does most of the actual governing,” Mickey admitted. “She’s very good at it. We balance each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Sorta like you and Sora and Kairi.”

            They lapsed into a comfortable silence as they entered the dunes. Riku tried smelling for light again, but even in the absence of Heartless, the scent of Darkness was still overpowering.

            Riku almost thought he was imagining it when a voice drifted along on the wind. He stiffened, and Mickey froze, as a woman’s voice met their ears.

            The voice was singing.

            “ _Fear not this night, you will not go astray…_ ”

            The two Keyblade Masters caught each other’s eyes. “Is that..?” Riku asked.

            “ _Though shadows fall, still the stars, find their way…”_

Mickey nodded, breaking into a grin. “That’s Aqua’s voice! I’m sure of it!”

            “Why’s she singing?” Riku wondered.

            “ _And you can always be strong! Lift your voice with the first light of dawn!”_

            “If I had to guess, it’s probably to keep her spirits up,” Mickey mused. “The important thing is, if we follow her voice, we can find her!” His ears twitched. The word “triangulating” popped into Riku’s head and he stifled a laugh.

            “ _Dawn’s just… a heartbeat away… Hope’s just a… sunrise away…_ ”

            “We should hurry,” Riku said. “She sounds… tired.”

 

 

            They ran best they could through the dunes, following Mickey’s ears. Aqua eventually switched to a different song, but they could still hear her.

            “ _The stars will shine tonight… they’ll fill the sky with light… they ran away, but now they glow so bright…_ ”

            “Shit,” Riku muttered as they ran up against a natural wall in the dunes. He put a foot on it to climb it, but the sand shifted and he couldn’t find any purchase.

            “We’ll find another way. Come on!” Mickey said, taking off back the way they came. Aqua continued to sing.

            “ _This little light of mine… I’m going to… let it shine…”_

 

 

            “ _On va briller ce soir, on va briller… On va briller ce soir, on va chanter…”_

            “Out of curiosity, what language is that?” Riku asked, bent over and panting. They had been chasing after Aqua’s voice for what felt like hours at full tilt, and had finally slowed down to a walk.

            “It’s what we used to speak in Disney Town back when it was the Country of the Musketeers,” Mickey said, also winded. “You didn’t hear it when you were there ‘cause you were there in a dream.”

            “I guess that makes sense?” Riku said. Meanwhile, Aqua started a different song.

            “ _Somewhere… over the rainbow… way up high…”_

            Riku straightened in recognition. “How does she know that? That song’s from the Destiny Islands. I haven’t heard it since I was a kid.”

            “Maybe she heard about it from the same place she heard about Wayfinders?” Mickey suggested.

            “Maybe.”

            “ _And the… dreams that you dream of, once… in a… lullaby…”_

            She sounded so close now, and the pair hurried along as fast as they could, but Aqua’s voice never seemed to get any closer.

            “She’s still walking, the same direction we are,” Riku said.

            “Keeping pace with her is better than losing her again,” Mickey replied.

            “ _Somewhere… over the rainbow… bluebirds fly…”_ There was an exhausted chuckle, then she continued. “ _And the… dreams that you dream of, dreams… really do… come true…”_

“ _Someday I’ll…”_ There was another pause. “ _Someday…”_ The pause came again. “ _Some…”_ Her voice paused, sounding not exhausted, but tired and confused.

            “She doesn’t know the rest of the song,” Mickey said, sadly.

            Riku gazed at the spot her voice had been coming from. “No…” he said, softly, and turned to Mickey, meeting the mouse’s eyes.

            “But I do.”

            Before Mickey could stop him, Riku turned back towards the spot and threw back his hood, singing as loud as he could manage. “ _Someday I’ll wish upon a star, wake up where the clouds are far behind me! Where trouble melts like lemon drops, high above the chim-i-ney top, that’s where you’ll find me!”_

 _“Somewhere, over the rainbow…”_ Aqua’s voice echoed out again, incredulous.

            “ _Bluebirds fly,”_ Riku answered.

            “ _And the dream, that you dare to…”_ sung almost as a question.

            “ _Why, oh why can’t I?”_ sung as an answer. “ _Someday I’ll wish upon a star…”_

 _“Wake up where the clouds are far behind! Me!”_ Her voice was starting to get closer. Riku grinned at Mickey, who beamed back in delight, and the pair rushed towards her.

            “ _Where trouble melts like lemon drops…”_

_“High above the chimney top!”_

_“That’s where…”_

_“You’ll…”_

_“Find me!”_ The two Keyblade Masters fell into an accidental, but not unwelcome harmony as they both crested opposite sides of a ridge, and finally, finally caught sight of each other.

            “Aqua!” Mickey crowed in triumph, and ran over to hug his friend.

            “Mickey?” she asked as he jumped into her arms, hardly daring to believe it.

            “Toldja I was coming back,” the mouse king grinned.

            “How… how long..?”

            “Two years,” Riku said, coming up behind Mickey. “Two years since you helped me close the door.” He was suddenly starting to feel a little awkward. He hadn’t sung out loud for a very long time, and even though it was for a good cause, it was still embarrassing.

            Aqua blinked at him. “You’re… Riku?”

            Riku gave a small smile. “It’s nice to meet you again, Master Aqua. You, uh, have a lovely singing voice.”

            Aqua blushed. “Oh, uh, thank you. So do you.” Riku’s cheeks also reddened.

            Oblivious to their embarrassment, Mickey said, “Aqua, we’ve got something that belongs to you.” He held out the pauldron containing her armour.

            Aqua gasped and took it. “So it did make it back to the Realm of Light!” She strapped the armour onto her arm, and pounded a fist against the activation pad. The metallic blue armour formed around her body, and there was a hiss as clouds of Darkness were vented out of the armour’s interior. Aqua breathed a sigh of relief.

            “Much better,” she said. “Now, I’m assuming you have a way out?”  

            “Uh,” Riku started to say, but Mickey cut in. “I’ve been thinking,” he said. “What we need is a connection to something or someone back in the Realm of Light. Ya still have your Wayfinder, right, Aqua?”

            She nodded, fishing the glass ornament out of her pocket; apparently she could simply reach through the armour when necessary.

            “Well, if we focus on your connection to Ven and Terra, maybe we can open a portal to the Realm of Light!”

            “It won’t work.” A fourth voice sounded through the gloom, and Mickey and Riku spun to see another figure in an Organization XIII-issue black coat. They summoned their Keyblades and took defensive stances, but Aqua rushed in front of them.

            “No, no!” she said. “He’s a friend!”

            “To open a portal to the Realm of Light in that manner would require three points of contact on the other side. That is why it is called ‘ _tri_ angulation’. Miss Aqua has tried this before, but with only two additional Wayfinders, it is impossible.” The deep baritone voice sounded oddly familiar to both Riku and Mickey.

            Riku caught on first. “… _DiZ_?” he said, incredulous, standing back up straight and banishing his Keyblade.

            “Ansem the Wise?” Mickey echoed, following suit.

            The man pulled his hood back, revealing greying blond hair, a lionesque, goateed face, and a very uncertain look. “Are… either of those my name?” he asked, genuinely confused.

            “He’s had amnesia since he got here,” Aqua explained. “I ran into him on the Dark Meridian a while ago. He said he’d been here before?”

            Mickey nodded. “He’s another old friend of mine. We’ll explain everything when we get back out of here. But Ansem, if we can’t use the Wayfinders, then…”

            “Actually,” Riku interrupted, “There _is_ a third Wayfinder in the Realm of Light that Aqua has a connection to. At least tangentially. If we try together?” he asked, unsure.

            Aqua held out her hand, offering Riku the Wayfinder. He put a hand over hers, and they both concentrated. Her Wayfinder began to glow with bright white light.

 

 

            In a secluded chamber in Castle Oblivion, a blond boy of about fourteen sat on a solitary white throne, deep in a magical slumber while he awaited the return of his heart.

            A small ornament of green glass arranged in the shape of a star slipped out of his pocket and rose into the air in front of him, glowing with a brilliant light.

            The boy did not move, made no change in his position in response.

            But his lips twitched themselves into a small, satisfied smile.

 

 

            In Radiant Garden, Ansem’s former apprentices were searching for the source of a mysterious thumping sound. They had tracked it down to a chest in the room that once belonged to the man they had known as Xehanort. The chest was locked.

            “Perhaps we should wait,” Even said. “Try to get into contact with the Keyblade wielders. After all, we don’t have the key to the chest.”

            Dilan gave him a sidelong, exasperated glance. “We can’t rely on the Keybladers to do everything for us. Besides, you don’t need to resort to a Keyblade to open a simple padlock.” And with that, he summoned one of his spears and levered the lock open.

            They caught a glimpse of the clothes Xehanort had been wearing when they had found him twelve years ago, before their attention was grabbed by a star-shaped ornament, made of orange glass, that rushed out of the chest to hover in the air in front of them, glowing brightly.

            “Curious,” Ienzo muttered.

            “Hm. All right, maybe we should contact the Keybladers,” Dilan said.

 

            At an undisclosed location, a silver-haired man clutched at his chest. He was unsure why he seemed to be of two minds; one half filled with elation and triumph, the other furious and – dare he admit it? – terrified.

 

 

            In Olympus Coliseum, Sora was breathing hard. After a week’s worth of training with Phil and Hercules, he had returned to the level of skill he had had back when fighting the Organization. He was even trying to learn something new, with Roxas and Xion’s help.

            He had never heard of “Limit Breaks” before.

            Donald and Goofy hadn’t, either, and all of them were curious about how they worked. Between Roxas and Xion’s descriptions of the technique, and the similarities to Hercules’ own fighting style, they were making progress. Right now, Sora was taking a break, not wanting to exhaust himself.

            He was watching Donald and Goofy try the technique against each other when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

            His Wayfinder was glowing.

            “Huh. That’s weir…”

            “Sora!”

            Donald and Goofy ran over as Sora’s eyes went glassy and he toppled over. This wasn’t what had happened earlier when Roxas or Xion had taken control. It was something neither of them had seen before.

            His mother, however, would have recognized exactly what was happening.

            Ventus closed Sora’s fist around the Wayfinder, and brought a smile to Sora’s lips that matched the one on his own body, worlds away. Though still asleep, he was able to murmur softly a single word, not in confusion or in fear, but in certainty.

            “… _Aqua!_ ”

 

 

            Back in the Realm of Darkness, three beams of light pierced the gloom and centred on Aqua’s Wayfinder. The glowing light grew and swirled around the group of four, expanding into a large ring. A feeling of warmth suffused them as a beam of light shot up from the ring, engulfing them. If there had been anyone else in the Realm of Darkness to see it, it would have been visible for miles around.

           

            In the world known as Port Royal, anyone watching the sunset that day would have seen something odd.

            A single flash of green light just as the sun dipped below the horizon.

 

 

            When the light finally faded, the group was standing in a square courtyard surrounded by destroyed buildings. There were signs of new construction slowly replacing the wreckage, but the courtyard was clearly now just a shadow of its former self.

            A small crowd had gathered around them; apparently the pillar of light had heralded their arrival on this side, too.

            Fortunately, the crowd held several familiar faces.

            “Riku? Your Majesty?” called a voice. Riku blinked and focused his eyes, and recognized Leon.

            “Leon?” he said. “We’re in Radiant Garden?”

            Aqua deactivated her armour, to the surprise of the crowd. “This is Radiant Garden? What happened while I was gone?”

            “We’ll explain later. Right now, we should get you to the Mysterious Tower. Master Yen Sid can explain better than we can,” Riku said.

            Ansem, meanwhile, had been silent since they arrived. “This all looks… so familiar…” He slowly removed his hood again, to the shock of the older people in the crowd.

            “Lord… Ansem?” Riku looked over to see Aeleus, dumfounded.

            Ansem let out a huff of laughter. “I suppose that is my name, then?”

            They left Ansem in Leon and Aeleus’s care, after explaining his amnesia to them, and headed for the gummi hangar. Mickey had called ahead to Chip and Dale at Disney Castle, and had them remote-pilot their gummi ship back from Castle Oblivion.

            Aqua barely said anything as they walked back through Radiant Garden towards the gummi hangar, but there was a lost look on her face, and her stare went on for miles. Riku could tell without asking what was on her mind, so when they finally reached the gummi ship, he tapped Mickey on the shoulder.

            “I’ll go get us launched. I think Aqua needs to talk for a bit,” he muttered in the mouse king’s ear. Mickey nodded, and Riku slipped away towards the cockpit, leaving Mickey to direct Aqua towards a lounge area.

            He set the course and launched the ship on a heading towards Twilight Town and the Mysterious Tower, then slowly made his way back to the lounge, where Mickey had already gotten Aqua talking.

            “It’s just… twelve _years_ ,” she kept repeating, barely able to wrap her mind around it. Mickey looked up to acknowledge Riku lingering in the doorway, and nodded to let him know it was okay to come in. “Radiant Garden looks like it was completely destroyed. If I hadn’t… been _selfish_ , and tried to save Terra from the Darkness…”

            “It’s not selfish to try to save a friend,” Riku said. Aqua jumped, having been too caught up in emotion to notice him entering.

            “But because of that… because of _me_ …”

            Mickey put his hand on her shoulder. “In the moment, you did what your heart told you was right. There’s nothing to be ashamed of in that.”

            Aqua sniffed, barely holding in tears. “But it was the wrong choice.”

            “Was it?” Riku asked. “Because of you, Xehanort lost his memory completely. Because of you, it took ten years for even a shadow of his darkness to threaten the worlds again. And that was long enough for the Kingdom Key to find its way to… Sora, who stopped him.” Mickey noticed the hesitation. Aqua didn’t. She was dealing with enough catching up without being told Riku’s own sordid tale.

            He figured it would hit a bit too close to home, given how similar it was to what Terra went through, and how differently those stories ended.

            “Radiant Garden was still destroyed.”

            Mickey sighed. “I know. But it’s not gone completely. Its people survived, and they’re rebuilding. Even now, more and more people who escaped the destruction are returning home. Leon tells me they’re barely keeping up with the new construction needed for all the new people.”

            It was quiet, but Aqua let out a single huff of laughter. “That is good to hear.” Her expression soured. “…I wish Ven and Terra could be here to see it.” She put her head in her hands. “I don’t even know where to start with getting them back. Ven’s heart is–”

            “Actually, we have good news on that front,” Riku said. “We know exactly where Ven’s heart is, and we know how to wake him up. The only thing we don’t know is where his body is.” He gave an encouraging smile. “Wherever it is you hid him, you did it well. Nobody’s been able to find him.”

            Aqua smiled again. “That’s also good news.” The smile slipped away as quickly as it had arrived. “But Terra..?”

            Riku shook his head. “We don’t know. I’m sorry.”

            Aqua exhaled slowly, tears forming in the corner of her eyes. “One step at a time, I suppose,” she said. She still looked exhausted.

            Mickey had noticed this, too. “Aqua,” he asked, “When’s the last time you got some sleep?”

            “It was… it was…” Aqua started, and then broke off. “…I guess it was twelve years ago, actually. You don’t really need to sleep in the Realm of Darkness. It felt like only seven hours or so; maybe sixteen, at the outside. But… twelve years…” She started tearing up again. Mickey put a hand on her shoulder.

            “You need sleep. It’ll help your mood stabilize. If you wake up hungry, we have food,” he said.

            Aqua nodded. “Thank you. Both of you.” She stood up to leave, and Riku caught her arm.

            “We’re going to get Terra back. I promise,” he said.

            Aqua sniffed again, a single tear finally escaping her eye and running down her cheek. She nodded, and went to the room Mickey had assigned her.

            Mickey and Riku made their way back to the cockpit. “Do you think she’s going to be okay?” Riku asked.

            “I want to hope so,” Mickey said, ears drooping. “She’s been though a lot. But,” he added, brightening, “She’s not alone anymore. She’s got all of us.”

            Riku smiled. Things were looking up.

**Author's Note:**

> So while reading Taliax's Cast a Shadow, which involves Aqua escaping the Realm of Darkness with the help of, of all people, Vanitas, I wondered why Aqua didn't try to teach Vanitas to sing. See, singing can actually help keep one's spirits up, and without spoilers (since you should go read that fic, it's excellent), they sorely need it.  
> So, I decided to use that idea myself. Congratulations if you can identify every song Aqua sings. There are five, including Somewhere Over the Rainbow. And if you're going to complain I got the lyrics wrong, they're singing the Israel Kamakawiwo'ole version, since I figured that would be the version native to the Destiny Islands.  
> On the note of inspiration from other fics, the reason Aeleus is in this at all was because while finishing up KLEA, I happened to stumble upon the fic Those Lacking Spines by Gexegee on fanfic.net, which is _ten years old_. While 90% crack, it made the actually very fair point that Xaldin/Dilan, Vexen/Even, and especially Lexaeus/Aeleus are almost never included in KH fanfic. It was mostly poking at shipping fare (of ten years ago), but it's still a valid point. I was originally going to have Dilan play the part Aeleus has (which is why he's the "leader" in the flash-sideways to Radiant Garden), but then I realized Lexeaus and Riku actually do have history. So that dovetailed nicely.  
>  This is probably also the most I'll kowtow to the KHIII trailers, aside from updating the characters' outfits. I wouldn't have included it at all, except that I actually love the design of Riku's new Keyblade, and also I realized I could spin something around Way to the Dawn breaking. But that payoff won't be for quite a long time to come.  
> I think that's about it. Progress on the next big story is happening, I have the prologue and the first chapter and most of the second chapter written, but... I always intended for it to have more chapters than KLEA, _and_ those chapters are turning out to be longer than I expected, so...  
>  Well. See you in two weeks for what Sora's been doing, if the hint here wasn't enough to tide you over.


End file.
